LibriVox recording of Passing, by Nella Larsen. Read by Elizabeth Klett.

Nella Larsen, a writer of the Harlem Renaissance, wrote two brilliant novels that interrogated issues of gender and race. In Passing, her second novel published in 1929, she examines the troubled friendship between two mixed-race women who can pass as white. One, Irene Redfield, marries a black man and lives in Harlem, while the other, Clare Kendry, marries a bigoted white man. Clare re-enters Irene's life after an absence of many years, and stirs up painful questions about identity.

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M4B format available


This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Nella Larsen
Date: 2010-09-26
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audio; novel; larsen; passing; harlem renaissance

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: benefitsingers - - February 9, 2011
Subject: A disturbing look back in time
This story is certainly about race, but it also seems to be about fitting in. The women in this story both seem to be able to "pass" as white if they wish. One chooses to do so and the other does not (well at least I think she doesn't.) I was a bit confused as to whether Irene was at times trying to pass, but Clare for sure was. Clare; however, misses the other part of her heritage, thus her reason for wanting to keep seeing Irene. I cannot identify with the women on the racial aspect, but I can certainly understand the part about fitting in. Often I thought both of these women were rather snobbish and it was hard to really like either of them. Toward the end I could really sympathize with Irene because of her suspicions about Clare and her philandering. The story does not have a real clear end but it certainly makes you think when it is over. Elizabeth Klett narrates and does a wonderful job. I think I would be curious to hear the opinion from a person of color on what they thought of this story. It is sad that racial discrimination is part of our history and still exists even today. I think though that there will always be that fear of whatever is different whether it is race, religion, age, sex, etc. My only hope is that people will learn that judging a person by their appearance is not very wise.